Danielle Ternyila

A new dosage for pembrolizumab of 400 mg administered every 6 weeks across all adult indications has been approved by the FDA, whether the PD-1 inhibitor is used as monotherapy or in a combination regimen.

"The confirmation of the initial safety profile of NOX-A12 in combination with radiotherapy in all patients of the first cohort is very encouraging."

"Because pacritinib inhibits JAK2, IRAK-1, and CSF1R, there is real potential for pacritinib to prevent patients from developing an inflammatory response to the coronavirus infection and subsequent pulmonary failure, therefore reducing the need for a ventilator."

High response rates were observed in patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma with induction treatment of bortezomib and lenalidomide plus dexamethasone after autologous stem cell transplant.

"This is the largest clinical trial evaluating a PD-1 inhibitor as a first-line monotherapy in patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer with high PD-L1 expression. These positive results are extremely encouraging."

In an interview with Targeted Oncology, Charlotte Sun, DrPH, MPH, discussed the findings from 2 abstracts from the 2020 SGO Annual Meeting on patient preferences for maintenance therapy in ovarian cancer and how these findings can be applied to practice in the community oncology setting.

“While we’re in very tough times, this crisis presents an opportunity to improve the quality and resiliency of cancer care. To maximize that potential, we’ll be drawing on the expertise of the full cancer community, action by policymakers, and data to proactively transition to post-crisis cancer care and achieve the best outcomes for patients in the months and years ahead.”

“Overall survival in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer has remained extremely challenging to achieve. We are thrilled by these results for Lynparza and we are working with regulatory authorities to bring this medicine to patients as soon as possible.”

"We know that, in general, patients with this particular subset of hormone-receptor-positive breast cancers should get chemotherapy, but all the studies showing the benefits of chemotherapy included patients with large cancers."

“These new data from REACH2 showing superiority of Jakavi over current standard-of-care therapies add to a growing body of evidence on how targeting the JAK pathway can be an effective strategy in this difficult-to-treat condition."

"The third independent safety review has once again confirmed the favorable safety profile of our lead product candidate eryaspase, and the trial has now surpassed 75% of the planned target enrollment."

In an interview with Targeted Oncology, Jeffrey S. Weber, MD, PhD, discussed the role of neoadjuvant and adjuvant therapy for the treatment of patients with melanoma. He also highlighted the role of immunotherapy, as well as other types of therapy, in this treatment landscape.

“The launch of Ontrucant to deliver our first oncology biosimilar in the US marks an important milestone for Samsung Bioepis, and more importantly, for the patients who are in need of this proven treatment."

The FDA granted approval to the combination of ibrutinib plus rituximab for the frontline treatment of adult patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia or small lymphocytic leukemia.

“There is an unprecedented unmet medical need for treatments that prevent or reduce severe COVID-19 related complications to improve outcomes for patients and alleviate the overwhelming pressure on the global healthcare system."

"In the era of COVID-19, the optimal management of patients with lung cancer remains unknown and the oncology community should have increased awareness to prevent the emergence of an increase in cancer-related and infectious mortality."

In an interview with Targeted Oncology, Sonali M. Smith, MD, discussed the treatment landscape for patients with indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma. In particular, she highlighted the data supporting the use of rituximab plus lenalidomide in patients with follicular lymphoma and marginal zone lymphoma.

Treatment with AG013 for prevention of oral mucositis did not show statistical significance of severe oral mucositis duration in patients with head and neck cancer undergoing chemoradiation in comparison with placebo, missing the primary end point of the phase II clinical trial, according to early topline results announced in a press release from Oragenics, Inc.

The FDA granted accelerated approval for tucatinib tablets in combination with trastuzumab and capecitabine as treatment of adult patients with advanced unresectable or metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer, including patients with brain metastases who have received one or more prior anti-HER2-based regimens in the metastatic setting. The approval comes 4 months ahead of the targeted action date from the FDA’s Real-Time Oncology Review.

In an interview with Targeted Oncology, Andreas Hartkopf, MD, discussed the findings from the RIBECCA trial and the key takeaways from these data for patients with HR-positive HER2-negative breast cancer.

The first severe and critically ill patient with coronavirus disease 2019 has been treated with leronlimab in a phase IIb/III clinical trial, announced CytoDyn Inc., developer of the drug. A total of 15 patients have also been enrolled to the phase II trial of patients with mild to moderate COVID-19.

Cabozantinib achieved improvements in the progression-free survival, overall survival, and objective response rate in patients with previously treated advanced renal cell carcinoma compared with everolimus, according to data from the phase III METEOR study.

In an interview with Targeted Oncology, Lipika Goyal, MD, discussed the first- and second-line treatment options for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and shared her thoughts on how these agents should be sequenced.

The FDA has provided clearance to an Investigational New Drug application for GT103 for the treatment of solid tumors. A phase I clinical trial will be initiated to evaluate this novel targeted immunotherapy in patients with refractory non–small cell lung cancer, announced Grid Therapeutics, LLC.

Protecting the well-being of both patients and healthcare providers remains the prime focus for every institution as the unprecedented coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic evolves rapidly. The Best Practices Committee from the National Comprehensive Cancer Network published recommendations in the Journal of the&nbsp;<a>National Comprehensive Cancer Network</a>&nbsp;for keeping patients with cancer and their healthcare providers safe in response.

Bortezomib as maintenance therapy following autologous stem cell transplant did not demonstrate a positive effect as treatment of young newly diagnosed patients with mantle cell lymphoma, according to the results of the phase II HOVON trial.

Osimertinib demonstrated statistically significant and clinically meaningful benefit as treatment of patients with stage Ib, II, and IIIA&nbsp;EGFR-mutant non&ndash;small cell lung cancer with complete tumor resection in the phase III ADAURA clinical trial.

In an interview with Targeted Oncology, Nicole Kucine, MD, MS, discussed the findings from her review of the literature on children, adolescents, and young adults with myeloproliferative neoplasms. She highlighted what next steps are needed in this space in terms of research and what a community oncologist should do should for younger patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms.<br /> &nbsp;

An autologous dendritic cell vaccine consisting of autologous dendritic cells loaded with autologous tumor-associated antigens demonstrated&nbsp;promising survival findings in patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma, according to updated data from a year-end analysis of an ongoing phase II clinical trial.

Targeted Oncology reviews trending news online for the week of April 10, 2020, including recent updates from studies of COVID-19 and the latest oncology news.